Brew Lab Late Opening Survey

While this may be a bit shameless, as Brewlab was our last post, I think this is worth posting. Brewlab is asking users to complete a survey about late opening hours. As die-hard coffee and computer fans, we feel that this would be the best thing since ever. Best part? You get a free drink for filling it out.

Late Night Survey

If only I lived in Edinburgh and didn't have just the one day there over New Years. This cafe is now 70% of the reason I want to move back to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh Community Cafes

I have only one issue with Edinburgh Community Cafes - they don't talk about making sure that all cafes have wireless internet. Besides that, however, it's a pretty cool group of cafes that work together to work on projects and support each other, ensure fair trade and quality and to advertise volunteer positions and the like. There's around 30 odd cafes. The best thing - they have a loyalty card that helps with getting free soup!

As well as the website above, they also have a Facebook page.

Map

We now have a map! Take a look here. It is obviously not full, but hopefully we'll fill it up soon and get suggestions as to what we can add to it, and what we should review next.

Your friendly customer reviews staff,
us.

Coffee H@ME Internet

I got lost yesterday trying to find my way to a friend's house is Leith. I don't yet live in the world of cyborg technology; following the extended mind theories of Edinburgh's own Andy Clark, what I mean by this is that I don't have a smartphone. Some of the time I have my laptop - yesterday, alas, I didn't.

After wandering around looking through closed windows on a bank holiday, I stumbled upon Coffee H@ME Internet, a snug little internet cafe on Leith Walk. They have computer's lining the wall, which makes it seem like your standard pay-and-get-out café - but the staff was incredibly helpful, the price for internet is cheap, and it's clear that they actually serve good coffee, and have a lot of options. They even have tables without computers, so you can bring your own. I might very well go there again if I can't find the Castle.

Verdict? Good.

PS. In case you're wondering, I've moved away from Edinburgh, and Simon is moving too. Chris is still around, and we'll blog when we're back in this home city of ours, however. Also, we're always looking for other staff. Pay? None. Hours? Non-existant. Satisfaction? Well, I guess that depends.

The Chocolate Tree

I went in here for the first time today. It was, alas, a brief glimpse, as there were no chairs available. The place is quite small, quaint, and rather nicely adorned, but without chairs, it is just a hallway to the door.

That having been said, it holds promise. The chocolate sweets one can buy are amazing - I very much suggest the chilli and tequila. Also, the staff are completely awesome, and up for a ten minute chat about Linguistics. This may be because I know the staff, and she does Linguistics, but that's not the point.

I look forward to checking on a future date to see if they have wifi.

Chocolate Soup [closed]

...this place is alright.

IFF (That's logic for if and only if) you like overpriced food, glaringly bright colours (which really destroy the otherwise lovely quietude of a hangover, I might add), weird tables/booths, and lots of tourists and yuppies.

IFF.

But it's not all that bad. I mean. It serves hot drinks. See?



I didn't check the wireless because I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could.

Coffee Names

In a shocking move, this post has nothing at all to do with any café in Edinburgh. Rather, I want to highlight another post on Brown Pundits about hard-to-pronounce names. Razib Khan mentions how a friend of his was upset when he failed to pronounce her name correctly, even though both of them were Indian in origin. He points out correctly that a) he's from an entirely different section of India (Bengal), and wouldn't know anything about the pronunciation of names in Southern India b) it's perverse to take pride in having an unpronounceable name.

More relevant to this blog, however, is a note in the comments. Basab Pradhan writes:

At Starbucks, after a few hand offs, the name that the Barrista shouts out can be unrecognizable. So I started giving “Bobby” as my name. Easy that way. I know a lot of Indians who similarly have a “Starbucks name”

That's pretty interesting.

So, in the interest of being more culturally and linguistically aware, I will now be marking cafés on whether or not they manage to pronounce my German (and Lithuanian and Jewish) name correctly. If I hear one 'Mr. Lituer?' for 'Littauer', I am going to start giving my name as 'Dr. Prahandeeninadeshnakali' and see how they manage it.

Black Medicine - Marchmont [closed]

Sadly, I am not always happy with the Chaplaincy. Why? Because I go there every day. And the coffee, let's face it, is completely awful.

So I went to the third Black Medicine I know of. It's in Marchmont, on the hill. It's a long way away, but if you're a student, you probably live next to it.

I don't like this one as much as the others. They do a good hot chocolate, but there are never enough seats, when there are seats they are too tall. I didn't check on plugs when I went, as I was reading a book.

Most importantly, though, I'm just not sure about it. It's never caught me like the others. I know Dylan Moran has gone here, though, so that's something going for it. Go if you want a BlackMed experience.

The Chaplaincy

The Chaplaincy is part of the University of Edinburgh. But not really. It's technically in Potterow, but anyone can come in. They have a donation box for tea and coffee, that I mostly ignore.

I spend most of my days and hours here. Like, all the time. Like, every day. Part of the reason I made this blog was to find different places to have coffee. But in the past couple of weeks, I couldn't be bothered.

Wireless: uni, good. Coffee: bad, free. Plugs: plentiful. Friends: everywhere. Heating: yes. Chairs: the majority of the time. Verdict: home.

SX Café

Southern Cross Café. That's apparently what the SX stands for.

It could also stands for 'sucks.'

Why? Because there's a sign in the window: £1 = 30 minutes of wifi.

I didn't even bother looking at their plugs.

Coffee Etc.

I went to Coffee Etc. today. It's one of the two nearly-identical falafel places across from Appleton tower, the other being Nile Valley. I was supposed to meet my friend at the latter - the problem is that they have difficult seating options. Either you're stuck next to people standing to order, or you're in a basement. Coffee Etc., on the other hand, has a back room. And it has comfy chairs in the backroom.

I didn't check the internet. Nor did I check the plugs. I assume that there is wireless from the University. But I was here purely for coffee and a wrap and chat. And, at £1.50, the mocha was damn cheap. But good.

I also managed to speak to the person making the wrap in Wolof, so I guess my linguistics degree is good for something. Basically, if you want a nice African vibe, good, cheap coffee, wonderful humous and falafel wraps, come here. Bring a girl if you can, it's a lot more fun than working.

Black Medicine - Bruntsfield

This place is chill. It's smaller than the normal ones, which are bit crowded at times. The window seat is perfect - great view of the links and the best street-gazing of any café I currently am aware of, after perhaps the Elephant House. The mochas is awesome. The wireless is free and has never failed me. It's open until six every day.



I also like the staff. Well, I would, as one of them is one of my good friends, and often has company, who I also know. So. Yes. Biased much?

But no, really, this place is great. The music is also good.

If you were to come, I would suggest walking over in December at around 3 when the light is failing. It's beautiful walking across the golf course at that time.

Tea Tree Tea [closed]

If you didn't know already, as I didnt - chai latte is amazing. Or, at least it is here. Tea Tree Tea is on Bread street, over new Tollcross. It's a really light, airy café with white walls with cool pictures. I kind of expected more hipsters, but there's a whole circle of girls knitting behind me, so I guess I can't really complain about the lack of atmosphere.

There is wireless, and the password is easy, and it works. WPA, 1-8. And it's not even BT, as far as I can tell. There's also a massive Wifi symbol on the window, which is useful in case you doubted me.

Chairs are good. There is a nice plug next to a wide window seat with a long couch and a slightly water-stained Ikea table. This place is a total win.

Did I mention this chai latte is amazing?

Beirut

I went here the other day. It's across from Double Dutch and relatively new, in St. Patricks Square. I went for a full birthday lunch with some friends from Linguistics, and that's pretty much what I got. It's a bit expensive for the 'let's-go-study-and-sit', but if you want a nice lunch, perhaps with a partner and aubergine, I would totally suggest it.

The coffee is great. I love Lebanese coffee.

I didn't check the wireless. Mostly because I feel this is kind of a restaurant as opposed to a café. However - it looks very, very promising. Why? Because on the way out, at the tables outside the door, there was a guy smoking shisha.

Shisha is awesome.

Olly Bongo's (v.2)

I went here the other day. My esteemed colleague has already given his opinion. Let's be brutally honest with you: we're not here to review cafés. We don't really care, most of the time, about the wallpaper or the taste of the caramel macciato. We're here to review our experience of cafés. Which means how we, as students, broke, poor, informatic students, feel about a place.

Olly Bongos? I like it. It's damn close to the university. 1 point. It's got not one, but two really nice window seats. 2. They have plugs. 3. There is wireless in the form of edinburgh uni wireless. (I'm not sure about in-house; ask if you want to know.) 4. They have really, really good tea. I haven't tried the coffee yet - rest assured, I will. 5.

I can't really think of any drawbacks. My voice resonates: I think the person next to me got annoyed by that. But that's not the establishment's fault. The table is a bit too low, and you have to bend your neck a bit. Again, not really that much of an issue.

Verdict? Win.

The Meadow Bar

So, the meadow bar is pretty awesome, besides the fact that it has those weird divided doors that are heavy and some how impossible to get through. It has an upstairs, a downstairs, society nights, a function room, and chairs. There's chairs most of the time, I've never seen this place full. It is also open late, which is a huge plus.

The music isn't bad, either.

And there is wireless.

Really, I don't see why I don't go study in here more often.

No, really. I should. The chips are awesome. No word yet on the coffee - but hey, there is beer.

Olly Bongos

Today was the first time I've actually successfully remembered Olly Bongos name (hold on, is there an apostrophe in there?). The name is printed so teeny on front, I think most people are under the impression that it's called "Cafe Bistro". Or maybe it's Cafe Bristo? That would be clever.

Anyway, I walked in, and one of the waiters helped me find a table with plugs, and I ordered some hot chocolate - cause lets be honest coffee tastes like ass - and a delicious apple pie. There wasn't much hot chocolate, and I don't really remember it tasting great, but the price was decent, and their Internet worked. It's also possible to access both the Uni's central and central-wpa wifi, so that's another bonus. The chairs were too high for the table though, so I spent most of my time hunched over, which got to hurting my back pretty quick.

Hotel du Vin

First off, I have no idea who thought up the company motto of "I think. Therefore I du Vin." But it is kind of weird. Just saying.

Otherwise - yeah. It's really, really, really classy. Like, leather chair classy. Like, finely polished wood classy. With fireplace.I'd kind of feel bad sitting in their café and doing work. (Is any one else annoyed by the use of é? I am. Too bad I can't stop.) But it's alright, because, as nice as the place is, and even though the gingerbread man was good - there's no way I'm paying £3 for that caliber of coffee. At the end of the day, it's just coffee, and I need bulk.

Go if you want to impress your parents, I suppose.

Oh, yeah, they have an outdoor fireplace as well. Kick-ass.

The Elephant House

I changed my mind.

These guys don't have wireless.

Although, they do have one, really nice window seat (when it's free - read as: it's never free). And their coffee is a cheap with the discount, if you remember it. And they do have a nice view out the back, say, if you had friends to go with you and talk instead of merely going to the café to study.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much 100% an exclusive studier. And without wireless, I'd be back doing a Greek degree. Plus, the Elephant house is normally packed, so although it is open late, I'm just not convinced.

Café Jacques

The worst thing about Edinburgh is that it is so ugly that walking is around is a horrible experience. There's nothing worse than not knowing where to get coffee - Imagine the pain of having to trudge through the ugly, maggot-grey, victorian shite that is this pathetic slough of a hamlet. It's made worse the fact that when it snows, the blinding purity of white serves merely to accent the hideous architecture. At least the ice that results partially covers the cobblestones.

Of course, all of that is completely ridiculous. Edinburgh is lovely. Driven out of my flat by the cold on a sunday afternoon, I spent a full thirty minutes before settling down in Café Jacques (Yes, it actually does have an accent on the é, which is awesome.) Once there, I got on the wireless. I'm not sure how. It wasn't due to the password they gave me, so I'm assuming there is free wireless in the area (as well as a wireless called 'euan' - well done, Euan, for naming your wireless for yourself.) The coffee was alright, but I was a bit hurried along while drinking it. The place was a bit busy, being the grassmarket - but again, who cares? If I have coffee and internet, all is good. So - go here if you want a pretty walk.